In pictures: Santos Tour Down Under

Since the first edition of the Santos Tour Down Under in 1999, the race has grown in stature. As the opening race of the WorldTour calendar, it signals the start of the racing season.  Canadian Cycling was there to catch all the action. (Check out the tech gallery, too.)

Australian Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge, centre) rolls to the start line of the People’s Classic Criterium, the opening event, looking relaxed. Gerrans is the defending champion and will be looking to repeat.

The irrepressible Jens Voigt attacked the People’s Classic Criterium from the gun, with only 24-year-old Zak Dempster (UNI SA-Australia) willing or foolish enough to go with Voigt.  The pair worked hard and built up a fragile gap from the peloton, dangling off the front of the bunch for nearly the entire race before the sprinters’ teams got serious and reeled the duo in, but not before Dempster had scooped up all four primes.  Lotto-Belisol eventually delivered their man, Andre Greipel, smoothly to the line for victory.

In a post-race interview, Voigt said with a laugh, “first race, first attack. It crossed my mind this morning. I may as well do something stupid and get it going.”

Garmin-Sharp’s Tyler Farrar headed to sign in. After a crash marred his 2012 season, Farrar will be looking to contest the sprint stages at the Tour Down Under, and get his 2013 started on the right note.

Another rider looking to rebound from a disappointing 2012, Andy Schleck (right) is making his debut at the Tour Down Under.  This is the earliest start ever for the Team RadioShack rider, who is looking to regain his Tour-podium form.

Orica-GreenEdge has two of the most popular stars here with Stuart O’Grady (right), a native of Adelaide, and Simon Gerrans (left), a fellow Aussie and the defending champion.

After his escapades in the opening People’s Classic Criterium, the ever green Jens Voigt gets ready for another day on the attack. Despite not being an Aussie, Jens Voigt is still a crowd favourite at the Tour Down Under.

Bernhard Eisel, another crowd favourite at the Tour Down Under, sporting the new Team Sky Pro Cycling kit by Rapha.

Having left much of their infrastructure in Europe, none of the teams had their usual luxury team buses to get ready in.

With all the riders sitting out in the open, fans has many great chances to get up close with their favourite riders. This access harkens back to an earlier era of cycling.

Despite the distance and lack of team buses, the big-budget Team Sky still managed to travel in style.

Looking resplendent in the rainbow stripes of the reigning world champion, Philippe Gilbert (BMC) is given the honour of leading the peloton out in the neutral roll out.

And they are off! The peloton rolls out for Stage 1.